McCall sad to hear McCulloch booed

The Gers defender was at fault for the visitors' second goal as the Light Blues were held to a 2-2 draw.

The stalemate saw McCall's side drop from second to third in the table and now face the prospect of playing two extra games if they are to fight their way back to the top flight.

But the manager rebuked his team's fans for the reaction to their skipper's mistake in the build-up to Tom Taiwo's strike.

He said: "It was very sad, and I was sickened to hear it at the time.

"What did please me was that, after a couple of minutes of it, the supporters then turned it on its head and drowned out the booing with claps. That's what we need as a club - togetherness.

"It doesn't matter what has gone on last week, years ago, months ago, today. It's all about next week and the future.

"The players will need the supporters as much as the supporters need the players.

"We put Lee up front near the end and he was denied a goal by another fantastic save from Jamie MacDonald. If he'd scored, I thought that would have been justice.

"He is an experienced guy who has witnessed the highs and lows, but it's never nice to hear that kind of thing."

John Baird turned home Craig Sibbald's corner to hand the William Hill Scottish Cup finalists a 57th-minute lead before McCulloch allowed the goal-scorer to steal possession and tee up Taiwo for the second four minutes later.

But Rangers refused to give in and hit back first through Haris Vuckic's header seven minutes from time and then when Nicky Law kept his cool during a late onslaught, calmly steering the ball through a crowded box to find the bottom corner in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Gers now face Hearts in Edinburgh next Saturday in their final game of the regular campaign, but will have to hope Falkirk can be just as tricky to beat when they host second-placed Hibernian if they want to reclaim the runners-up slot.

"I think we got what we deserved in the end," McCall said. "To be two goals down with the time left and come back to level was pleasing.

"We kept going and showed desire, togetherness and drive. We did not accept defeat and we will need all that next Saturday and in the play-offs.

"We started the game well but Falkirk scored from a set-play and then on the break. It was looking doom and gloom but we kept at it.

"MacDonald has three outstanding saves - in fact two of them would be in the world-class category. We also had one off the post and two cleared off the line.

"We made a lot of opportunities, which I was pleased with - but we made a lot of errors as well.

"It's a blow in terms of the league position, but we thought we would have to go to Tynecastle and win. We still have to do that. Obviously if Falkirk perform like they did today, Hibs will have it hard as well."

Bairns boss Peter Houston, though, was unhappy with referee Euan Anderson.

He said: "I think the legs fell off towards the end. We almost had to play until Rangers scored. I don't know where the ref got the injury time from, because he told our players there was 90 seconds to go and we went up the park three times.

"Yes, there were five subs and I think the physio was on once, but anyway I will talk about the positives. And the positives are the performance, the counter-attacking. We could have scored more goals."